I'm going to have a Gonzo hive

[LET-CA]

I was at the local Home Depot with my wife last night picking up paint for our kitchen and looked over at the "Oops" stack.  There was a gallon of exterior-grade, semi-gloss in a color called "Tigerific Orange", a Disney color based on Whinny the Pooh.  I picked it up over the mild objections of my dear wife who quickly figured out that one of our hives is going to be sporting an unusual paint job.  I still need to pick up an accent color to go with it. I'm thinking a mid-to-dark shade of blue.  Yup, my bees will be able to easily see which home they came from.  Pictured below is a hive I put together for one of my Grandson's.  It's the Isaac hive.  He's three and is trying to come up with names for all the bees that will live there.

[Kathyp]

that's awesome!  i buy all my hive paint from the oops bin.  your grandson is lucky to have such a talented hive builder to help him along :-)

other reject names:  marked down meat is found in the 'ready to rot bin',  day old bread in the 'moldy bread bin', etc.....

[bluegrass]

That is a hugh undertaking for a three year old :lol: :lol: I like your garden cover, bought or built?

[Sean Kelly]

I just picked up paint for my hive yesterday from Home Depot and checked the "oops" bin but all they had were some really terrible colors like a reddish brown and something that looked like hunter's blaze orange.

Hey Bluegrass, you from Kentucky or do you pick bluegrass music?

Sean

[LET-CA]

That is a hugh undertaking for a three year old :lol: :lol: I like your garden cover, bought or built?

The copper top came from Mann Lake and the little bee on the front was 59 cents at the local craft shop already painted.  I just tacked it on.

I left for lunch a few minutes early today because I got a "swarm call" from a daycare operator.  I put the bottom box of the Isaac hive out and dropped a couple of handfuls of the bees in the doorway.  I'll stop by this evening to pick them up.  In the ten minutes I stayed the bees were actively moving into their new home from the tree they had swarmed in.  I didn't have much time but she was really worried so I opted for the quick fix to see if the bees would do all the heavy work for me.  So far it looks good.

[bluegrass]

Hey Bluegrass, you from Kentucky or do you pick bluegrass music?


Sean

I am not from KY, but I do live there, Like bluegrass, but don't play anything....not musicly gifted. Those oops colors you mentioned sounded fine to me :-D Sometimes you can talk the paint desk into re-tinting them a little. All you do is pick a simular color you like....they can scan it and get a comparision on the miss-tint, and a formula to make it match. I used to do it all the time when I worked for True Value, but it might be too complicated for the HD crowd :?

[Sean Kelly]

Those oops colors you mentioned sounded fine to me :-D 

I don't know man, I think the blaze orange might be too much for my neighbors.  It's been hard enough convincing them that the bees wont kill their pets or livestock.
I'm a banjo picker and thought you might pick a little too.  The whole bluegrass name thing got me excited.  :-)  Oh well.

[LET-CA]

I finally got around to painting a hive orange last night.  Wow!  It's really visible; like from the moon!  I'm going to do a split from one of my hives to get it started with a new queen.  I'm going to use a standard telescoping cover, because as someone else pointed out, having hives without flat lids makes it hard to put things on them when you're working the ones nearby.  I'll get a photo posted soon. 

[The Dregs]

My daughters picked up some huge flower decals at the store for my hive. They say the bees will like their house better if it's pretty.

[LET-CA]

I put a second coat of orange paint on tonight.  I'm not sure if this will make it any easier for the bees, but I know that I'll be able to find this one easier!   :-D

[DayValleyDahlias]

LET-CA..that is gorgeous!  Lucky Isaac!!

[UtahBees]

Yes! Very cool paint job!

UtahBees

[Mklangelo]

Snazzy!

[prisoner#1]

I put a second coat of orange paint on tonight. 

I rented a house that had a living room about that shade, it was white and grubby when I viewed it
apparently had never even met the painter, the guy even watered down the paint to make a gallon
stretch a long way

I like the natural look of wood, I used a clear finish on the same mann lake bodies with the garden cover (it was to please mom)

[LET-CA]

My wife isn't too sure about having this in the back yard.  I'm going to do a split and get it set up quickly before she puts her foot down!

[Michael Bush]

http://www.bushfarms.com/images/DippingBoxes5.jpg

Here's what mine look like after wax dipping them.

http://www.bushfarms.com/beesdipping.htm

[LET-CA]

http://www.bushfarms.com/images/DippingBoxes5.jpg

Here's what mine look like after wax dipping them.

http://www.bushfarms.com/beesdipping.htm

I love the look of the wood grain.  How much of an investment was it to set up everything to boil your own?  There's few things nicer than a nice wood grain.

[Brian D. Bray]

Tigger Orange--I was expecting some black stripes.  Now all you need is a rotating strobe light on top of the hive.  LOL